Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Hearts Of Oak, 63 Haydock Street

The Hearts Of Oak was one
of many beerhouses that began as a grocery store and branched out into the sale
of beer to drink on the premises.

The pub was situated on
Haydock Street, a street that still exists in part, but which in those days ran
from Higher Bridge Street, opposite the Globe Inn, across to Gray Street. The
Hearts Of Oak stood on the corner of Knight Street.

The beerhouse was
started around 1870 by John Peake and his wife Elizabeth. However, John had his
eye on a different career path and by 1881 he was a draper living in Bullock
Street where he employed seven men.

The Hearts Of Oak
remained in the Peake family for another 40 years. Robert Peake – believed to
be John’s brother – took over and he remained there until his
death at the age of 49 in 1883. He had previously been a manager at a
bleachworks so this was another change of career for a member of the Peake family.

Robert was succeeded by
Edmund Peak and by 1905 it was being run by Robert’s daughter, Emma Peake.

The Hearts Of Oak was
later sold to the Manchester brewer Hydes. It was a strange commercial decision
given that Hydes had a very small presence in Bolton. That situation continued
until the 1990s. Hydes later sold the pub to Burtonwoods and it was a
Burtonwood pub that the Hearts Of Oak closed in 1959.

All the properties on Haydock Street were demolished in the sixties and new housing was built in the street. New homes
were built on Knight Street, directly behind where the Hearts Of Oak once stood,
but they too were demolished in the 1990s. More new housing has been built in
its place.

The Haydock Street - Knight
Street junction in October 2009 (copyright Google Street View). Haydock Street
goes off to the left, Knight Street goes off towards Prince Street where the
Aldi store can be seen in the distance. The Hearts Of Oak was situated in the foreground
on the right-hand side where the car parking area is situated.